Leaf Springs Creaking & Groaning

bamorris2 · July 29, 2020

In my experience, this is very common of leaf sprung trucks. I’ve owned many trucks from various brands, and I’ve had to either grease and/or replace those pads in most of them to stop the noises that develop. I consider it to be part of normal maintenance.

JR09country · July 30, 2020

Thanks for the TSB and part #s. Mine started doing this about 4 months ago when COVID was just flaring up and I didnt want to deal with the dealership. I placed some 1/8” thick rubber between the leaf springs as a temporary solution and it got rid of the noise completely but looks terrible. I will order these pads if available and use those since they look much better.

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lapoolboy · July 31, 2020

I'm happy to report I had TSB 19-NA-129 performed today and the rear suspension is now quiet as a church mouse. They put in the four new spring inserts/isolators and retorqued the U-bolts. Everywhere I've driven today that would normally generate the clunking sound did not cause any at all. So far, so good.

Chrisd534 · July 31, 2020

On 7/29/2020 at 6:31 PM, dmitrysgarage said:

Did it fix the issue?

Absolutely! No noise at all now.

dmitrysgarage · August 2, 2020

On 7/30/2020 at 10:03 PM, Chrisd534 said:

Absolutely! No noise at all now.

On 7/30/2020 at 7:33 PM, lapoolboy said:

I'm happy to report I had TSB 19-NA-129 performed today and the rear suspension is now quiet as a church mouse. They put in the four new spring inserts/isolators and retorqued the U-bolts. Everywhere I've driven today that would normally generate the clunking sound did not cause any at all. So far, so good.

Nice thanks guys! So much for the "it's normal for it to sound like a medieval carriage" nonsense. Going in Tuesday as I'm now throwing a CEL related to the brake module too (P25A2-00 Brake System Control Module 1 Requested MIL Illumination).

dmitrysgarage · August 4, 2020

Well, I went to the dealer this AM and they fixed it up right after lunch time.

They did that TSB everyone else had (19-NA-129) which eliminated the sound. So no it's not "normal" for a solid axle to make that sound:
They did a software flash to address the CEL I had.
They enabled afterblow for me to help reduce mildew smell. My garage is air conditioned and i think the evap coil was just sitting there wet and never baking off.

econometrics · August 5, 2020

"Just got back from the STEALership..."

nluchau · August 27, 2020

I had inserts put in about a month ago, noise went away initially but is back now. What gives???? Question, how many new inserts should I have put in? 2 in front and 2 in rear? Are they indeed gray vs black so I can easily tell if I look at the springs?

Edited August 27, 2020 by nluchau

lapoolboy · August 28, 2020

3 hours ago, nluchau said:

I had inserts put in about a month ago, noise went away initially but is back now. What gives???? Question, how many new inserts should I have put in? 2 in front and 2 in rear? Are they indeed gray vs black so I can easily tell if I look at the springs?

The lubricant they squirted between the pads and the leaves has washed away. The pads do nothing to solve the problem.

nluchau · August 28, 2020

13 hours ago, lapoolboy said:

The lubricant they squirted between the pads and the leaves has washed away. The pads do nothing to solve the problem.

Interesting! Why would they replace the pads then if it doesn't remedy the issue? Note: The pads were on a later revision of the Service Bulletin also.

Robert G · September 28, 2020

I just hit 12,000 miles and the same noise started. My truck sounds like an old squeaky truck coming down the road. The squeak is coming from the driver's side rear. At least when I take it in, I have the service bulletin so they can't give me any trouble.

Duramaxsky · September 28, 2020

My 03 2500HD Duramax has 278,000 miles on it and the springs don't make any noise. That's not normal. I hope they fixed it as mine was a very recent build.

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DFW-AT4 · October 7, 2020

I put wax on the top of my inserts. Won't wash away & does not attract dust/dirt.

Donnie Summers · October 7, 2020

Torqued mine, Bet they were less than 50flbs, I did it before it made any noise and had bout 500 miles on truck so maybe saved the factory inserts..

imartinez92 · July 11, 2022

On 7/27/2020 at 8:19 PM, Dean Sterling said:

I replaced the pads last week that lapoolboy linked. So far so good, I had a bad squeak from any movement at all. Hopefully this fixes it for a while.

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Where did you buy the pads?